Quiet birthday

My birthday was yesterday, which I celebrated in a very — how shall I put it? — discreet manner. Got up around noon (I've often been sleeping 10, 12 or even 14 or 16 hours at a stretch, partly due to the Lexapro I've been taking) and lolled about the house all day. I hadn't much choice but to loll around, since I do not know how to drive (but this household has only one car, anyway), the nearest bus stop is 6 blocks away (an ordeal with my lower limb primary lymphedema, asthma and 90 F heat), and Mom is working both the morning and afternoon shifts as an instructional aide until the high school hires a new aide.

I did get some nice gifts, though. My friend Tritia (who is a grad student at San Jose State University) sent me a choker of faceted rondelles (chrysoprase? new jade?) with a filigree cross pendant. Alas, the choker is 16" — too literally a choker for my thick neck :-) But fear not: I got out a plain 8" silver bracelet I have had for years and used it as an extender. The necklace looks just as nice at 24" than it would at 16" — and much more comfortable.

My mother gave me a ring with marquise-shaped sapphires forming a flower, as well as a DVD of The Passion of the Christ. No cake, though: Mom was too tired to make one (and the kitchen is too hot, even at 9 PM), and she had not thought of ordering a quarter sheet cake (marble or German chocolate with vanilla custard filling and vanilla whipped frosting) from Albertson's. Ah well. Considering that people are suffering in Sudan, Iraq and God knows where else, I don't have that much to complain about :-)